FEMA Aid Uneven In Storm-Hit Areas

By BILLY TOWNSEND The Tampa Tribune

Published: Feb 6, 2007

LADY LAKE - Tess Wengren rode out Friday morning's tornado in her antiquated mobile home. She was lucky. All around her, the winds and pressure blew apart her neighbors' homes. The storm shoved her house several feet off its underpinning, but left it mostly intact.

She passed Friday and Saturday nights alone inside her leaky trailer with no power or water. By Sunday afternoon, her 80th birthday, workers with the town of Lady Lake were trying to restore power and fix her mangled plumbing, only to conclude the mobile home was unlivable.

They joined volunteers with the Southern Baptist Convention in trying to persuade her to leave. She finally agreed, and the Baptists found her a hotel in nearby Leesburg. Volunteer Terri Folker followed her there, tucked her in and then followed her back home Monday morning.

At midday, a group of volunteers from New Orleans showed up to cut down a precarious oak tree split by the storm.

All around Wengren's home, in the hardest hit neighborhoods of Lady Lake, the ad hoc business of response and relief was humming. But the question of what to do next began to loom.

Noticeably absent was the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the key to accessing help for long-term relief, particularly in housing.

Lady Lake Town Manager Bill Vance noticed. He strode briskly along decimated Quail Street, handing out printed updates to residents working on what's left of their homes.

One paragraph read: "Town pursuing more and significant FEMA registration resources to place in our tornado-damaged neighborhoods. FEMA agents also setting up an office in Lady Lake but currently only FEMA assistance/registration office is at Laurel Manor Rec. Facility - Villages."

Vance said he has been told there are 50 FEMA workers fanning out through the damaged neighborhoods to assess needs.

"But I can't brag on that," he said, "because I haven't seen it."

Setting Up

Its absence on the ground in Lady Lake aside, the embattled federal relief agency has established a prominent presence in Central Florida in the wake of the storms.

It has set up two disaster recovery centers, which are supposed to function as clearinghouses for those in need.

One center is in Lake Mack, a site with damage and demographics similar to Lady Lake, about 30 miles away. The other, as Vance's handout noted, is in Sumter County inside the sprawling Villages development. This site also was supposed to serve residents of Lady Lake, which is in Lake County, several miles of snarled traffic away.

Lady Lake residents looking for access to long-term assistance - most of whom are low-income or elderly or both - on Monday needed to leave their neighborhoods and drive or find a ride to The Villages, if they knew the disaster recovery center was there.

By late Monday, officials said FEMA was expected to set up a formal recovery center today within the stricken Lady Lake neighborhoods. But the timing of that was uncertain.

Folker, who has worked the streets behind the demolished Lady Lake Church of God since Sunday, said late Monday morning she just had seen her first FEMA worker. That worker promised a greater presence later in the day, she said.

FEMA chief David Paulison and Gov. Charlie Crist have said the agency was quick to respond to the three Central Florida tornadoes that killed 20 people and left hundreds homeless. But scattered complaints drifted in among the 676 people who had registered so far for help Monday.

In Lake Mack, Allan Smith spent an hour in a makeshift tent talking with state and federal agencies about how to rebuild his home. The 77-year-old from the Lake Mack area emerged with few answers, except that a FEMA building inspector would be out to survey the rubble within two weeks.

"If I didn't have in-laws I wouldn't have a place to go," Smith said. "You take people that have been through this, they're already at a loss, so that's what hurts."

Many, like Smith, couldn't rely on getting insurance claims - they didn't have coverage because the hurricanes of 2004 and 2005 have made it so expensive. The cap on FEMA aid is $28,200.

Residents must register with FEMA to take the first step toward getting aid, but they couldn't do that in person at the command center that opened Monday in Lake Mack. Those who came were given brochures and seated at a table with telephones so they could call someone else at a toll-free number.

Victims who already had registered by phone or online didn't have to be there at all. But they also could get questions answered from the Small Business Administration, American Red Cross or others with state and federal agencies for veterans or the elderly. A medical trailer outside was available for checkups.

FEMA spokesman James McIntyre defended the agency's responses, noting President Bush didn't declare the area a federal disaster until Saturday. He said the two-week timetable given to those like Smith was a way of "managing expectations," and inspectors could be out sooner.

But McIntyre also warned FEMA is only a stopgap measure, and victims must rely on loans and other things to get entirely back on their feet.

"They have to understand that FEMA cannot make them whole," he said.

The juxtaposition Monday morning between the recovery center at The Villages and the work in Lady Lake was striking.

'Process Was A Whiz'

In The Villages, an affluent, golf course retirement community, a fleet of heated campers from insurance companies, the state and FEMA sat idling in the parking lot of Laurel Manor, which is a sort of town center for the development.

Residents, mostly from The Villages, strolled into the atrium of the building, where FEMA representatives and other disaster relief officials waited for them. Just off the main hall, people were working out at a Villages gym. A boccie court in the parking lot was full of people playing their regular Monday game.

"The application process was a whiz," said Richard Vargo, whose house in The Villages likely will be condemned. "Everybody in all aspects has been very helpful."

A list of addresses served at the Villages recovery center showed few of the dozens of people who have sought help since the center opened Sunday came from Lady Lake.

A State Farm insurance representative on site said virtually none of his company's claims have come from Lady Lake.

For now, Vance said, Lady Lake is taking the role of emergency clearinghouse for affected citizens. Residents with questions can call (352) 343-9442, Ext. 5039. He is expecting FEMA to help soon.

"Our No. 1 priority is our citizens," Vance said. "They have a variety of needs - housing, medical, insurance."

Asked about FEMA's presence at The Villages, he gestured to the obliterated homes on either side of Quail Street and the Red Cross vehicle moving slowly up and down, providing meals.

"They need to be here. That's why the Red Cross is here," he said. "The Red Cross is doing a great job."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. Reporter Billy Townsend can be reached at (863) 284-1409 or wtownsend@tampatrib.com.